I am not a mood reader. In fact, until I got more involved with the book community through podcasts and on Instagram, I didn’t know there was any such thing as mood readers. You just let your… mood… dictate what you’re going to read next? That sounded CRAZY to me. For as long as I’ve been conscious about my book selection habits, I’ve been a strict TBR list reader. (TBR = to be read) I set my list and I rarely deviate from it. Whenever I try to be a mood reader (I did this during the early stages of the pandemic when it was hard to easily get books from the library), I feel off-kilter. I feel out of control when I don’t know the next few books I’m going to read. My TBR list brings me comfort and stability.
I thought I would talk about my process for setting my TBR list. Prepare yourselves. There are multiple spreadsheets and a very convoluted selection process involved.
How I Set My TBR List
I house my TBR list in the same spreadsheet where I keep my reading log. This spreadsheet has tabs for:
- 2022 – Current reading log.
- TBR List – My upcoming TBR list.
- Unread Shelf 2022 – One of my reading challenges. I list out all of the books I want to read in each category and check them off as I go.
- Reading Challenge 2022 – My other reading challenge. I’ve listed out all of the books I need to read and whether I own the book and/or it’s available as an audiobook through Libby. I check off the books as I read them.
- To Read – Romance – A running TBR list solely for my romances.
I also have a separate spreadsheet where I’ve listed out all of the books I own, both in print and on my Kindle. Am I a little anal-retentive about my reading life? Why yes, yes I am. Is the fact that I have spreadsheets for my spreadsheets the reason I’m consistently exhausted by all my hobbies? Maybe.
Let’s first talk about my main TBR list spreadsheet. I change up the way I choose books to put on this TBR list frequently, but here’s what it looks like right now:
I set my TBR list in batches of five books at a time. Once I’m nearing the end of a five-book list, I’ll go through the upcoming five-book list and request any library books I need. I’ll also create a new five-book list at this time. Each five-book list includes: 1-2 books from my reading challenge, 1 book from the Unread Shelf Project, 1 book from my “must reads” list, 1 book from my Goodreads TBR, and 1 book from my Owned spreadsheet. This reading challenge (where I’m trying to read all of the books I added to my Goodreads want-to-read list before 2018) has changed up the way I’m setting my TBR list because I want to make sure I’m working through the list at a good pace. I switch between choosing 1 or 2 books for this challenge per five-book list, just to keep things fresh.
I can typically work through a five-book list within a month, maybe sooner if the books are short or I’ve abandoned one. These lists are essentially monthly TBRs but I don’t like to list them that way because if I finish a five-book list early, I want to be able to move right along to the next list.
I mentioned two different TBR lists in the above paragraph: Must Reads and Goodreads TBR. Let’s go into what those are real quick:
- Must reads – I keep a separate list (are you keeping track of all my lists?) of 10 different “must reads.” These are books that I don’t want to get lost in my Goodreads want-to-read list. They’re the books I really want to read as soon as possible, so I keep them separated from my other book lists and make sure I read at least one book from this list every month.
- Goodreads TBR – These are books I pull from my Goodreads want-to-read list. I try to cull this list frequently and keep it under 250 books, otherwise it feels super unmanageable. To select a book from my Goodreads TBR, I go to random.org, put in how many pages my want-to-read list is (currently it’s at 12), and whatever number it gives me, I’ll go to that page of my want-to-read list and pick a book.
So that’s my full process of selecting the books that will go on my TBR list. And even though I’m not a mood reader, per se, I do keep my mood in mind when I’m putting together these book lists. For example, I try not to have too many nonfiction books on the list at a certain time. If I’m going to read a heavy social justice book, I try to make sure all of my other books are a bit lighter, like YA or contemporary fiction. I also make sure that at least 2 of the 5 books (ideally 3) are by or about BIPOC or the LGBTQ+ community. A lot of times, I’ll fill out a five-book list and none of the books are diverse. So I’ll swap out some books, like maybe different books from my Goodreads TBR and Must Reads list, to make sure I’m not solely reading about white people. (I make this point to say that it does take conscious effort to make sure I’m reading about different perspectives and diversifying my book lists. The publishing industry is very white-washed and heteronormative, but if you make the effort, you can have a diverse reading list.)
How I Pick My Romances
Now, where does romance reading fit into my book selection process? As noted above, I have a separate list for my romances. I keep a running list of the romance authors I’m reading now (I try to read through the entire backlist of all of my favorite romance writers). Right now, I’m reading through the works of Lauren Layne, Tessa Dare, Jill Shalvis, Kate Meader, Helena Hunting, Julia Quinn, and Susannah Nix.
Typically, I keep a long list (usually 10 books) of romances that will be coming up for me to read. Once this list starts to dwindle, I’ll spend some time searching for new books to add to the list. I do a mix of backlist romances from my fave authors as well as frontlist titles that are getting buzzed about. (I’ll usually mark them on want-to-read on Goodreads, and I look through that list frequently when pulling new book titles to read.)
I’m also trying to be cognizant of the fact that the romance genre can be very white and very heteronormative (although it has gotten better in recent years!), so I try to pick a queer romance or a romance from a BIPOC author for every two non-diverse romances I read. Here’s what my list looks like right now (the first list includes backlist romances and the second list includes diverse romances):
Since I am often always reading a romance, I don’t include my romance reads into my overall TBR list. I just pick the next book on my list once I finish the romance I’m reading. (Here’s how I read two books at one time: I’ll read 50 pages of my non-romance, and then switch over to my romance. I’ll read 50 pages or a certain percentage of my romance, and then switch back to my non-romance. And so on and so forth.)
Book Club Books
The last piece of the puzzle is book club books. Thankfully, I’m only in one book club so I only have to worry about fitting in one extra book per month. Most of the time, I just slot in the book when I feel like reading it (maybe I am a bit of a mood reader after all, ha). Sometimes it’s because our meeting is coming up and I haven’t read the book, other times it’s because I just finished one of my five-book lists and want to read it before starting my new list. There’s truly no rhyme or reason to when I read a book club book! (I do try to request the book from the library as soon as we decide on it, just so I have it around when I want to pick it up.)
Final Thoughts
I am a little embarrassed to share my system for choosing what books I’ll be reading because it’s really so, so complicated. I’ve written over 1,300 words on how I choose what books to read! That’s ridiculous. I envy people who just request books willy-nilly from the library and don’t live and die by a TBR list. I have a friend who, every time she needs more books to read, will just head to the library, pull up her Goodreads want-to-read list, sort by rating, and look through the stacks to see what books are available. That’s truly astonishing to me!
But you know what? I like this system. I like all of my spreadsheets and lists. I like that I’ve made it a fun game of choosing what to read. I’m sure my system will change and evolve over time. (I used to be the person who would just go to the library and peruse the stacks!) But I like that I always know the next 10 or so books that I’ll be reading. Whenever I finish a book and I don’t have the next one lined up immediately, I feel a little panicky. My weird, complicated TBR system brings me comfort and joy, and isn’t that what we want from our hobbies?
Tell me your process for selecting books to read! I’m fascinated by everyone’s different processes.
I am not surprised that you have such a detailed process for selecting what to read next! It’s fascinating to hear how others approach it! I also do not consider myself a mood reader. We seem to be in the minority, though, at least I feel that way after listening to the currently reading episode about reading habits.
Right now I pretty much exclusively read e-books. That may change when I am in a different stage of like – like when I’m not sitting in a rocking chair for 20-60 minutes on the nights I do Paul’s bedtime (he insists we sit in the chair until he falls asleep). I would lose my mind sitting there if I wasn’t reading a book! I try not to read more than one book at a time, besides my serial reading of the Count, so that means I need to be reading an ebook at all times. So what I read it mostly dictated by my hold list. What goes on that hold list is a combo of book club books, and books from my TBR tab of my reading tracker (that I got from Sarah’s Bookshelves Live). Having a TBR list in a spreadsheet is a new approach for me for 2022. There are 42 books on it currently, which includes book club books and other books I want to be sure to read. I also have a TBR on goodreads, but it’s 274 books long! So I don’t really use that to figure out what to add to my holds list. I try to always have 2 ebooks checked out so I have another book available when I finish a book. But I also have a TBR list within libby and some are available immediately, so if a hold isn’t available for me, I choose from that list. Waits are quite long as my library since our library system seems to be incredibly well-utilized and our library system covers a huge county – 1.2 million people!! I’m envious of people whose waits are short for buzzy books! But our library does own many copies of buzzy books, but then over 1,000 people request it, the wait is inevitably long. I’m always so happy when they buy more copies of a book. Like “Lessons in Chemistry” which is a very buzzy book. Libby was saying I had over a 6 month wait for the book and last week it changed to 3 months. I was like – HIP HIP HOORAY!!!
A part of me wonders what would happen if I just removed every book from my Goodreads TBR and started from scratch with a spreadsheet or something like that. But I don’t know if I could do something that extreme! At least I keep it pretty minimal at under 250 books. I know some people who have 800+ on there!
I always have to wait longer for e-books than physical books for some reason. Maybe more people request e-books than print? Or they have more print books than e-book licenses? Probably a combo of both! I usually only do my romances on e-book, so sometimes I have to wait awhile for a buzzy romance. But hooray for Lessons in Chemistry’s wait time dropping by half! Woo hoo!
“You do you!”
You know I like systems and write long posts about things that other people barely notice in their own routines.
That said, I am definitely (maybe surprisingly) very fly-by-the-seat of my pants.
I get almost all my books from the library, so I never really know what’s going to come in, where.
I go through spurts where I have tons of books TBR on my bedside table, and then other times where there isn’t much of anything good.
I rarely wander through the stacks and get books and have stopped adding books as “To Read” on Goodreads. If there is a book I want to read I just immediately log in to my library and put it on hold (depending on what I already have ordered/where I am in the waitlist, I might put a delay on the hold/suspend the date it will come in).
In terms of determining what I’ll read next, I find at this stage between recommendations from friends/blogs and suggestions from Goodreads, I just always seem to have lots of books to add. Last week I went out for coffee with a friend and she gave me a whole bunch of suggestions. I wasn’t planning on getting a big influx of ideas, but it came along and I put them all on hold (with some suspended) last week.
That’s my system – or lack thereof! Very little planning, I’ll admit. But it works for me 🙂
I think a lot more people are like you – at least, I feel like that’s the way the readers in my life operate. Whenever I hear about a great book to read, I just add it to my Goodreads TBR (and maybe also my “must reads” list if I REALLY want to read it soon), and who knows when I will ever read it. It seems like a much better system to just immediately request it from the library.
I am a fairly heavy library user and I was even more so in my younger years so I think that’s where this idea of not being a mood reader comes from. I could only read what was available at the library, so I didn’t have time to decide if I was in the right “mood” for it, ha.
I think this is a comprehensive description of how you determine your reading order, but how do you decide what books go on your list in the first place? You have a TBR of 250 books – where do those book ideas come from?!
I’m always impressed with how high your star ratings are compared to mine. Now, maybe that’s because I’m a more critical person (perhaps!), but I also think you might be sourcing your book ideas from some magical place. Where is that place? How do books arrive on your TBR?
I try to read books from my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge list, a list from r/fantasy subreddit about best fantasy books by women authors, and I try to read a non-fiction book from the library every month, although I noticed I have not done so this month. I also read a lot of romance novels, but this is where my system really breaks down because I don’t really have a reliable source of romance novels that meet my romance novel standards. Also, like Elizabeth, I am generally at the whim of our small town public library and sometimes books take weeks or months to come in, so I can’t really plan a reading order as clearly as you can!
A very excellent point! I wrote about this very process a few years ago (http://stephanywrites.com/how-i-find-books-to-read/), but mainly, I find them from podcasts (Currently Reading, Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, The Popcast, and What Should I Read Next? are my top ones) and I get a daily email from Goodreads about what my friends are reading so that also helps to drive my TBR.
Well, your system is the most complicated one I’ve heard of (although I’m sure there are even more complicated ones out there!) But, you enjoy it, and it’s a way of being completely immersed in your reading life. I like it!
Not surprisingly, I’m a little more haphazard. I get ideas for books mostly from blogs, and when something sounds good I add it to my TBR. If it sounds REALLY good, I request it from the library right away. Sometimes it takes a while to be transferred between branches, or I have to wait for it to become available. When I get that email from the library that my book is available, it pretty much dictates what I’ll read next. As long as I know I have one book lined up for when I finish my current one, I’m good. If for some reason I don’t have another book lined up I start to get a little nervous, but then I know I can fall back on the next Louise Penny book (that’s been my backup plan so far.).
At some point I’d like to get into some sort of reading project, like reading all the books by a certain author, or following a theme for a while… maybe I should come up with a goal like that for the summer. Hmmm!
That sounds like a fun reading goal! I love setting reading goals like that for myself because I don’t really struggle with finding time to read, so it’s a fun way to shake up my reading life and make sure I’m getting to the books I’ve really wanted to read.
This is SO fascinating to me because I am a mood reader through and through. If I am not in the mood for a book, I cannot force myself to read it. (When I try, I end up eking my way through it a paragraph at a time and just NOT reading anything at all. Better to be reading the thriller I AM in the mood for than not reading anything. I think. LOL.) But I admire and envy readers who can set a TBR and stick to it. I feel like your spreadsheets and approach prove that you are more serious about reading — that it’s a real hobby for you, rather than just something fun (which is what it is for me).
Well, I admire readers who don’t have to take a hobby so seriously – HA. I wish I could be more go-with-the-flow and be a mood reader, but my personality just doesn’t allow that. Isn’t it lovely, though, that we all have a system that works for the reader/person we are?!
“Is the fact that I have spreadsheets for my spreadsheets the reason I’m consistently exhausted by all my hobbies? Maybe.” – haha, I feel that 🙂
I am not a mood reader per se either, but I also don’t have a set list like you. I think I mentioned before that I usually have a running list of books I want to read and then I just see what’s available at the (digital) library whenever I finish my book. It’s rare that I reject a book that is available for another further down the list, but it happens if I have, let’s say, read multiple non-fiction books in a row and would like to switch it up.
Your system seems so much simpler. Sometimes, I wonder if I should simplify my system like that. But I also like all of my spreadsheets and weird, complicated way of choosing what to read. SIGH. I should experiment with a simpler way, though.
I love your process. But oh, my, I am definitely your exact opposite when it comes to “choosing” my next book! It’s absolutely a mood-based decision. I will often flip-flop from a light fluffy book to a thriller (for a change of pace). But most of the time it just involves scrolling my apple books library (I am an iPad reader through and through) and seeing what’s appealing! You’re probably twitching right now with the lack of structure in my “process”. 😉
I do LOVE the idea of *listing out* all of the books I own in Apple Books. Part of the issue is that I own things but they’re at the waaaay bottom of the list (Because I bought them so long ago!) and I forget about them – even though I still want to read them! Hm. Maybe a (relatively short) weekend project… thanks! 🙂
No twitching happening! I think your process is perfectly wonderful and I love that it works for you. I wish I were so much more low-key and go-with-the-flow with my reading life, ha.